RetiredVermonter: "I'm sure I'm way to late to even think of this, but has anyone taken to going to the bank and (temporarily) buying rolls of silver coins (dimes, quarters, half dollars) to scour them for OLD silver ones? The idea obviously would be to sell any old ones (worn beyond numistmatic vakue) to coin dealers for cash, before replacing them with newer ones and returning the coins to the bank for even exchange."

You are about 4 decades too late.

Coinage changed in 1964-1965 and Gresham's law sent the vast majority of the pre-1965 coins out of ciruclation before the 1960's ended.

I cannot remember the last time a saw a an old U.S Silver coin in circulation.

Darrell Sheets - Storage Wars - bought a locker last year that contained seveal hundred dollars in face value of old US silver coins. Melee in the Maze, IIRC.

Regards, JAFO